A measure of a city's greatness is 'found in its parks'

Susan J. Natih ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 12/09/2008 11:42 AM  |  Opinion

Indonesia's 35,000 varieties of flowering plants represent one tenth of the world's angiosperm, meaning flowering, species. The country can boast two of the last great areas of relatively undisturbed tropical rain forest still remaining in the world, located in Kalimantan to the west and West Papua to the east.

Each has a distinctive floral composition and contains many plant species found nowhere else in the world. These great rain forests, teaming with life forms, are a remarkable heritage for our children; the challenge for educators in Indonesia is to touch the hearts and minds of our children and to engage them in taking responsibility for their environment.

This means not just a once-a-year tree-planting celebration but everyday, ongoing activities related to planting and tending trees, flowers or vegetables. Growing plants requires patience and a careful selection of species in relation to location, the amount of space available and the intended learning outcomes.

Last year's Bali Climate Change Conference demonstrated the need for cooperation between nations and communities; analogously learning can flourish in schools which nurture cooperative classrooms based on the virtues of respect, responsibility and rights. Ecology, the relationship between living things and their environment, is thus a matter of good character.

The Victorian philosopher John Ruskin once observed, "The measure of any great civilization is in its cities, and a measure of a city's greatness is to be found in its parks and squares." So many of Indonesia's children are now city dwellers who only see fruit and flowers prepacked on supermarket shelves or wilting in market stalls.

Public gardens for school and family outings are still much needed in Jakarta's dense metropolis and -- though tree-planting and canal-dredging projects, creation of mini parks and dissemination of "green" information by concerned citizens are commendable -- so much more can and must be done to make this great city worthy of its children.

As I look back on my own childhood in England, I realize how lucky I was to have a vast, rambling garden to which I returned each day after school. My mother planted flowers and vegetables as the seasons came and went and in autumn my brothers, myself and all our friends were roped in to pick apples.

We were very much in contact with Mother Earth and knew all the trees in the garden as special friends -- some were good for climbing, others for making swings, still others held the secret of a bird's nest and blue-green thrush eggs in the spring.

Trees, whether in forests or in man-made parks embody all that is beautiful and life-giving. Providing our planet with oxygen and with nutrients which life forms above and below the soil need, trees nurture and shelter other living beings. In Indonesian folklore, the tree of life, Pohon Hayati, appears in a variety of forms throughout the archipelago and is typically identified as the ultimate source of life, the origin of all good things.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating ecological lessons of this great nation can be seen on the carved stone reliefs of the Borobudur temple in Central Java. The earliest known representations of fruit or fruit trees are to be found on this magnificent monument.

The galleries of this ninth-century Buddhist stupa, ornamented with scenes from the life of the Buddha and other worthy subjects, also include numerous representations of fruit and fruit trees; 7 fruits have been identified in the reliefs; banana, mango, durian, jackfruit, coconut, areca palm and palmyra palm.

When a child walks along these galleries, touches the ancient stones and sees the carvings of how people lived and what they grew and planted, history comes alive and the connection between past and present is made manifest.

Fruit also appears often in the famous Ramayana reliefs at the nearby ninth-century Hindu temple complex of Prambanan. One panel shows Rama displaying his omnipotence by shooting an arrow through a row of 7 coconut palms.

These magnificent, weather-beaten monuments, which have withstood the tests of time are the history books which teachers and parents must take children to experience. Like the rain forests, they are this nation's heritage and surely demonstrate to our children what it means to be civilized. As a contemporary civilized society we must, together with our children, cherish the greatness of humankind, made manifest in Indonesia's great monuments, and the greatness of nature, in her living rain forests.

President Yudhoyono recently stressed the need for Indonesia to be self-sufficient. This is surely connected with self-esteem. When Indonesia's children are encouraged to respect, take pride in and take responsibility for the natural and man-made wonders of this nation, self-sufficiency becomes possible.

Making fruit cooperatives and gardens in schools, exchanging ideas with students in other schools around the world and comparing farming methods are just some of the activities which build a sense of esteem and shared responsibility. And in all this may our children and children of future generations rejoice in nature's bounty.

The writer is a lecturer and a founder and adviser of the Central and Sevilla schools in Jakarta.

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